Avalanche extend series in 5-3 win at Dallas

“I think we have a lot of season left.” Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon told ESPN post-game. He might just be right. With the season on the line and coming from their most emotional and worst game of the year, the Avalanche showed resilience Wednesday night in Dallas to win Game 5.

Wednesday’s game started far too familiar for the Avalanche, as they looked poised to skate a one-goal deficit into the locker room despite being the better team much of the period. Then, improbably, Artturi Lehkonen‘s magic stick made an appearance with 0.6 seconds on the clock.

An evenly fought second period ended with a two-goal tie, but the third period belonged to the Avalanche. Cale Makar reached a higher level as his second goal, combined with MacKinnon’s dagger, buried a Stars team with every advantage being given to them on home ice.

Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s series-extending win:

It’s Aliiiiiiive!

Sunday night ended with a seemingly deceased Avalanche squad having what Coach Jared Bednar described as “our worst game of the playoffs.” MacKinnon said after Monday’s practice, “I stunk. I need to be better.” If Dallas thought their foe vanquished, a rude awakening came Wednesday.

The “Big-Guns” for The Avalanche finally seemed to breakthrough the malaise of Dallas’s all-boring brand of hockey and made the plays needed to beat the transcendent Jake Oettinger. Cale Makar showed why he will go down as the greatest defenseman in NHL history, flashing his skill and recording two goals and an assist.

Nathan MacKinnon, meanwhile, assisted on Lehkonen’s last second goal and dominated his share of ice time. Re-uniting MacKinnon with Jonathan Drouin and Lehkonen proved to be a line that Pete DeBoer had no answers for. Moving fellow star Mikko Rantanen down to combine with Casey Mittelstadt also generated more offense.

The Avalanche have a pulse, and now it’s Dallas needing to adjust after being overmatched on home ice.

Battle Between The Posts

Alexandar Georgiev has put Game 1 against Winnipeg far in the rearview mirror of this playoff run. While you couldn’t say Georgiev has been the best goalie in either series, he’s done enough to keep a star-studded team around him from having to move mountains in most games. Wednesday night, the assignment to be “good enough” was to outduel the red-hot Jake Oettinger. Georgiev answered the bell.

Giving up three goals is rarely a night any goalie would describe as fantastic, but the goals Georgiev did give up were the sort of near-impossible, high-danger efforts that you honestly expect the defense to not put a goalie in position for. Meanwhile, on the other end of the ice, Cale Makar had Oettinger seeing ghosts as the ultimately game-winning goal trickled through Oettinger’s five-hole while his eyes were on the corner after a deflection.

Every game in this series where Georgiev is better than Oettinger is a game that the Avalanche will win.

Looking Ahead

The Avalanche return to Ball Arena on Friday, with puck-drop scheduled for 8:00 p.m. MST. Colorado will need to win at home to force a Game 7.

Highlights